The Divjake-Karavasta National Park (DKNP) is one of the largest coastal protected areas in Albania. With an area of 22 230,2 hectares, it is made of four lagoons with a total of approximately 5,000 hectares of sand dunes and a river delta. It is located in the central part of Western Region, between Shkumbini River in the north and Seman River in the south, 40 km west of Lushnja, by the Adriatic coast. Divjakë-Karavasta National Park is listed as Ramsar site since 1994.

The management of many protected areas in Albania is not effective, suffering particularly from inadequate financial resources and limited management capacity, therefor this study commissioned by UNDP Albania aims to define the financial strategy and business plan for the management of the Divjakë-Karavasta National Park (DKNP), aiming to:

1) Provide a detailed description of the economic characteristics of the PA to be used for the analysis of the current situation;

2) Prioritize actions required for the PA sustainable financial management, leading to the development of a business plan and the presentation of the financial strategy, along the implementation of the PA management plan.

3) Propose financing mechanisms to develop in order to reduce the existing financing gap.